Click here to open this help in French (aide en ligne).

Native feature in Enterprise Architect

Enterprise Architect provides a baseline comparison tool to compare the current state of the model in the database with a "baseline" i.e. an XMI export of a model branch. This is relevant and convenient to compare the model with an older state when snapsnots (baselines) are available.

For more information, search for "model baseline" in Enterprise Architect User Guide.

Alternative approach with eaUtils

eaUtils Compare Diagrams feature provides a different approach by running a comparison on the content from 2 diagrams, to identify differences in terms of elements and connectors visible in each diagram.  

The illustrated purpose on this page applies to an Enterprise Architecture model based on ArchiMate 3 (Open Group). Please feel free to contact me on guillaume [at] eautils [dot] com to share other examples that I can use on this page.

The following diagrams establish the current and future state of the organization's main applications flows i.e. before and after a planned migration to replace an obsolete "Application 2" with "NewAPP A" and "NewAPP B" applications.

Current state with "Application 2":

Future state with "NewAPP A" and "NewAPP B", replacing "Application 2":

Procedure to use eaUtils Compare Diagrams:

• Create a new diagram where eaUtils will be executed.
• Add a hyperlink for each diagram to compare (drag/drop each diagram and select Hyperlink).

• Set the hyperlinks alias values as follows:
  • Diagram 1 alias = eautils_compare_v1
  • Diagram 2 alias = eautils_compare_v2

• The setup is complete. Right click on this diagram and select Specialize > eaUtils > [Diagrams] Compare Diagrams.
• The following window is opened. Click OK to run the comparison.

• Result:

• Note: if the diagram links are not properly set up, the following error is shown.

• Alternatively if a diagram doesn't have any element (visible in the browser e.g. a class, component, use case...) required to run the comparison, the following error is shown as there is nothing available to compare.

• Results: 
  • A diagram is generated with all elements and connectors from both diagrams, with the same position and dimension as on each diagram (if visible on both diagrams, position from the new/v2 diagram applies).
  • Elements and connectors that appear greyed out, faded, were only found in the first diagram i.e. they can be considered as removed from Diagram 2 (DELETED).
  • Elements and connectors with the green border line in were only found in Diagram 2 i.e. they can be considered as added in Diagram 2 (NEW).
  • Other elements and connectors with the default border line were found in both diagrams (MATCHING).
  • A legend is available.

"eaUtils Compare Results 20210922-140632" diagram:

• This diagram can be finalized and saved:

It is also possible to set different colours from the default ones. To do so, update each hyperlink colours: border, font and/or background. Note: these settings are not visible on the hyperlinks however they will be used by eaUtils.

Example: diagram 1 = red border + grey background, diagram 2 = green border and text + light green background.

Running eaUtils Compare Diagrams feature generates the following result:

Click here to open a video demonstration (YouTube).